Strike A Long Trot

We are saddened to report that Kate Riordan, editor of Strike A Long Trot, has passed away on June 2, 2024. Sail away into the Milky Way, dear friend.

Strike A Long Trot now on Aubible.com

Strike a Long Trot: Legendary Horsewoman Linda Tellington-Jones Strike a Long Trot: Legendary Horsewoman Linda Tellington-Jones

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Now available on Audible.com.

COMING SOON! We've updated the cover for the audiobook version of Strike A Long Trot. Soon to be available on Audible.

77 years ago - August 22, 1945 - US Army General George S. Patton rode Favory Africa, a Lipizzaner stallion from Vienna’s Spanish Riding School. The stallion was one of many under the protection of U.S. Army as the director of the School, Colonel Alois Podhajsky, had sought the safety of the American military to keep his priceless stallions and the art of classical dressage secure in the fallout from WWII.

On August 22, 1945, General Patton asked for the chance to ride Favory Africa, a stallion that Hi**er had intended to gift to the Japanese Emperor Hirohito - the Emperor was almost always featured on a white horse in propaganda leaflets, and Hi**er felt he could gain favor with the Emperor if he made him a present of one of the famous and intelligent Lipizzaner stallions. Colonel Podhajsky willingly granted the General’s request to ride the prized stallion:

“…At the end of the performance I rode up to the dais and thanked General Patton for his tremendous support, and with this the improvised show on the castle meadow reached its climax and fitting conclusion. Before the General left St. Martin he expressed a wish to see the horse that Hi**er intended to give to the Emperor of Japan, and asked me whether he might also ride it, and was obviously delighted to be able to execute various movements with it.”

- excerpt from “My Dancing White Horses” by Colonel Podhajsky

The Bitter Root Stock Farm today.

As I'm preparing the WORD document for the wonderful narrator that we've chosen, I'm rereading Strike A Long Trot. Sometimes while reading these stories about Linda, I just burst into tears remembering how magnificent a rider she was during her competitive career. Here's a segment when she was riding Brado at the Oakland Combined Training Event in 1967.

"After watching riders carefully cross the ditch at the bottom, spectators were assured of the trail’s dangers. Then Linda’s Preliminary Level started, time passed, where was she? Then we heard the signal of another horse and rider coming when someone hollered, “Stand back!” We instantly recognized the flash of Linda’s pale yellow sweater against Brado’s deep bay coloring. The pair, wasting no time, came flying down the trail at a full gallop. As if horse and rider were welded together, in one swoop they turned and sailed across the sizable ditch. Brado’s long forelegs extended as he grabbed solid ground for his next stride, his hind legs thrusting his huge body through the air. They raced out of the woods and headed for the finish line. If only the U.S. Equestrian Team could see him now! Brado clearly loved every minute of this contest. No one would have ever believed that this horse once had confidence issues over ditches and had been rejected by the Olympic team! Now he was as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. Linda and Brado won the Cross Country portion of the event."

This has been a long time coming but it’s getting done now.

Do you want to meet a pioneer endurance rider? A Top-Ten Tevis rider, a woman who has paved the way for so many other riders. She won a 100-mile ride in Oklahoma by 5.5 hours and left a record that Ed Johnson and Pat Fitzgerald fought to break.
Say hello to LINDA TELLINGTON-JONES seen here in 1968 leaving Robinsons Flat aboard Hungarian stallion Magyar Brado. She earned 6 Tevis buckles and Brado went on to become a foundation sire for in America for Hungarian horses.

44 Must-Read Horse Adventure Books - Equestrian Adventuresses™ Looming for horseback riding books to inspire your next horse adventure? Check out these 44 must-read horse adventure books!

How wonderful to see the trails and beach today where Linda's Pacific Coast Equestrian Research Farm was formed. This is the incredible Hackney Pony Flash, who starred in the 2021 Tevis Cup Ride.

Revisiting the Hungarian Horses...

Horses in History: The Hungarian Heroine, Part III This week Lorraine Jackson concludes her deeply fascinating three-part series on the little-known story of Judith Gyurky and her Clover Horses. Read part I here and part II here. By 1946 Judith Gyurky had survived annihilation through not one but two world wars. She had found and lost her beloved ho...

This is the Commander and Margaret Chadwick who are the innovative educators who founded Chadwick School in Rolling Hills, California. They are standing by the sign that marked the entrance of the long drive up the hill to the dorms and classrooms. This photo is probably from the late 40s or early 50s. Linda and Wentworth Tellington were teachers at Chadwick in the 1950s and is where she met her now husband, Roland Kleger.

Interesting details here about
Wentworth Jordan Tellington
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/133204444/wentworth-jordan-tellington

Wentworth Jordan Tellington (1916-2000) - Find A... Wentworth Went Jordan Tellington was an American professional engineer, inventor, geologist, businessman, and horseman. His achievements include patents for a Vehicle Tracker, device for tracking and recording locations – 1944 , Floating Airport - 1995, Shock Absorbing System for Floating Platform...